Arriving in Bangkok

Finding a place to stay in Bangkok is usually no problem, the city has a huge range of accommodation, from the murkiest backstreet bunk to the plushest five-star riverside suite, and you don’t have to spend a lot to get a comfortable place. Getting to your guest house or hotel, however, is unlikely to put you in a good mood, for there can be few cities in the world where transport is such a headache. Bumper-to-bumper vehicles create fumes so bad that some days the city’s carbon monoxide emissions come close to the international danger level and it’s not unusual for residents to spend three hours getting to work – and these are people who know where they are going. However, the recent openings of the subway system and the elevated train network called the Bangkok Transit System, or BTS Skytrain, have radically improved public transport in downtown areas of the city. Unfortunately for tourists, these systems do not stretch as far as Ratanakosin or Banglamphu, where boats still provide the fastest means of hopping from one sight to another.

Arriving in Bangkok

Unless you arrive in Bangkok by train, be prepared for a long slog into the centre. Both the old airport at Don Muang and its brand-new replacement, Suvarnabhumi Airport, are a slow 25km from the city centre. Even if you arrive by coach, you will still have a lot of work to do to get into the centre.

By air: Suvarnabhumi Airport (pronounce “soo-wanna-poom”)

25km east of Central Bangkok off the main Bang Na-Trat highway towards Chonburi, at inauspiciously named Nong Ngu Hao (meaning “cobra swamp”). It is slated to handle all scheduled flights (international and domestic), while the old Don Muang Airport may continue handling charter airlines. Suvarnabhumi is the largest airport in Southeast Asia, capable of handling 76 flights an hour: it’s also said to have the world’s largest single terminal building which serves passengers on both international and domestic flights, as well as the tallest control tower.

Facilities at Suvarnabhumi include tourist information and accommodation booking desks in the Arrivals hall, plenty of cafes and restaurants (on Level 6), with 24-hours clinics, a spa and an airport hotel. Left-luggage storage is locked between the international and domestic arrivals areas and charged B100 per 24hr; it’s open 24 hours. However, some of Suvarnabhumi’s facilities and transport connections are still a work in progress so some of the following transport information may change; check with the information desks and the airport for latest details. Also visit www.suvarnabhumiairport.com for more information.

Getting into town from Suvarnabhumi

Unless you are already counting your baht, the best way of getting into the city is probably by air-conditioned Airport Express bus (frequent departures; B150). These buses depart from outside the Arrivals hall on Level 2 and serve four main areas of the city: route AE1 goes to Thanon Silom (via expressway): route AE2 serves Banglamphu (via expressway); route AE1 runs the length of Thanon Sukhumvit; and route AE4 heads for Hualamphong train station (via expressway).

Note that the airport Express buses will probably be less reliable for departures to Suvarnabhumi, as the Bangkok traffic will make it difficult for them to stick to their schedules; instead, you will probably be better off using the private minibuses to Suvarnabhumi arranged by travel agents, guest houses and hotels, especially in Banglamphu, with pick-ups from your accommodation.

Airport limousines for four to eight passengers also depart from outside the Arrivals hall on Level2 and should be arranged through the dedicated counter in the Arrival hall; a limousine to Pattaya cost from B1500. To catch a metered taxi, however, you may need to go to level 4 or 1; in addition to the standard to pay B50 airport surcharge plus around B70 in tolls. Be sure to get a licensed metered taxi and to avoid any freelance unmetered taxi touts: see below for a warning about this.

For all other (cheaper) airport transport, particularly public buses, plus rental car pick-up, you need to first make your way from the passenger terminal to the main transportation centre, elsewhere in Suvarnabhumi’s vast airport complex. This involves taking a free ten-minute ride on the “express route: shuttle bus from outside Arrivals (Level 2) or Departures (Level 4) to the transportation centre (be sure not to confuse this with the “ordinary route” shuttle bus, which ferries catch public buses to the following destinations in and beyond the capital, though it is likely that more routes will be added in the future. Of these public buses currently running from Suvarnabhumi into Bangkok (all of which charge no more than B40), the most useful are: #552 to On Nut Skytrain station at the far eastern end of Thanon Sukhumvit; #551 to Victory Monument (via expressway); #554 to Don Muang Airport (via expressway); and #553 to Samut Prakan. A route to the Southern Bus Terminal is also on the cards. Longer-distance destinations are served by the Transport Company “Baw Khaw Saw” who runs inter-provincial air-con buses direct from Suvarnabhumi Airport to Pattaya and Trat on the each coast, as well as to Nong Khai; further routes may also appear.

If you are aiming to get into town by public taxi from the transportation centre, avoid any tout who may offer a cheap ride in an unlicensed and unmetered vehicle, as newly arrive travelers are seen as easy prey for robbery, and the cabs are untraceable; instead take a metered, air-conditioned cab (with a distinctive “Taxi meter” sign on top).

Airport transport should become a lot less complicated when the planned high speed rail link is completed. This will run to Phaya Thai Skytrain station in downtown Bangkok (connected to Phetchaburi subway station).

Don Muang Airport

Should you find yourself having to use Don Muang Airport, probably for a charter flight, you will find the most economical way of getting into the city is by public bus. The bus stop in outside the northern end of “Arrivals” on the main highway. The train to Hualamphong Station is the quickest way into town, but services are irregular (50min; B5-30); follow the signs from Arrivals in Terminal 1. Licensed and metered public taxis are operated from clearly signposted counters, run by the Airports Authority of Thailand outside Arrivals; avoid taxi touts and unmetered taxis, as described above.

By Train

Travelling to Bangkok by train from Malaysia and most parts of Thailand, you arrive at Hualamphong Station, which is centrally located, at the southern end of the subway line. The most useful of the numerous city buses serving Hualamphong runs to the budget accommodation in Banglamphu; at the #25 (ordinary and air-con), which runs east to Siam Square and along Thanon Sukhumvit to the Eastern Bus Terminal, or west through Chinatown to Tha Chang (for the Grand Palace).

One service the station does not provide is itinerant tourist assistance staff – anyone who comes up to you in or around the station concourse and offer help/ information/transport or ticket-booking services is almost certainly a con-artist, however many official-looking ID tags are hanging round their neck. This is a well-established scam to fleece new arrivals and should be avoided at all costs. For train-related questions, contact the 24-hour “Information” counters close by the departures board. The station area is also fertile ground for dishonest tuk-tuk drivers, so you will need to be extra suspicious to avoid them – take a metered taxi or public transport instead.

One or two slow trains from the south pull in at the small and not very busy Thonburi Station, from where it’s a short ride in a red public songthaew or an 850-metre walk east to the N11 (Bangkok Noi) express-boat stop. Just across the Chao Phraya River from Banglamphu and Ratanakosin.

By bus

Buses come to a halt at a number of far-flung spots. All services from the north and northeast terminate at the Northern Bus Terminal (Mo Chit) on Thanon Kamphaeng Phet 2; some east-coast buses also use Mo Chit *rather than Eastern Terminal), including several daily services from Pattaya, Rayong (for Koh Samet), Chanthaburi and Trat (for Koh Chang) and the Cambodian boarder), The quickest way to get into the city centre from Mo Chit is to hp onto the Skytrain at the Mo Chit Station, or the subway at the adjacent Chatuchak Park Station, fifteen minutes walk from the bus terminal on Thanon Phraholyothin, and then change onto a city bus if necessary. Otherwise, it’s long bus or taxi ride into town: city buses from the Northern Bus Terminal include ordinary #159 to Siam Square, Hualamphong Station, Banglamphu and the Southern Bus Terminal; and ordinary and air-conditioned #3, and air-conditioned #509 and #512 to Banglamphu.

Most buses from the east coast use the Eastern Bus Terminal (Ekamai) between sois 40 and 42 on Thanon Sukhumvit. This bus station is right beside the Ekamai Skytrain stop, and it also served by lots of city buses, including air-conditioned #511 to Banglamphu and the Southern Bus Terminal, or you can take a taxi down Soi 63 to Tha Ekamai, a pier on Khlong Saen Saeb, to puck up the canal boat service to the Golden Mount near Banglamphu. There’s a left-luggage both at the bus terminal (daily 8am-6pm; B30/day).

Bus services from Malaysia and the south, as well as from Kanchanaburi; use the Southern Bus Terminal (Sai Tai Mai) at the junction of Thanon Borom Tatchonni and the Nakhon Chaisri Highway, west of the Chao Phraya River in Thonburi. Drivers on these services always make a stop to drop passengers on the east side of Thanon Borom Ratchonni, in front of a Toyota dealer, before doing a time-consuming U-turn for the terminus of the west side of the road; if you are heading across the river to Banglamphu or downtown Bangkok you should get off here, along with the majority of the other passengers. Numerous city buses cross the river from this bus stop, including air-con #507 to Banglamphu, Hualamphong Station and Thanon Rama IV, air-con #511 to Banglamphu and Thanon Sukhumvit, and non-air-con #159 to the Northern Bus Terminal. This is also a better place to grab a taxi into town, as rides are faster and cheaper when started from here. Click here for Useful Bus Routes in Bangkok